FIRST Robotics Magazine

[Katie Reynolds]

I, Katie Reynolds, commit to being on an editorial/review staff.

- Katie

[Joe Matt]

I, Joseph Matt, will write a general technology review section rangeing in size from one page to three pages. It will cover technology in general and it's first big article will the the Segway. I hope to have this done by next Sunday. I will post it up here.

[Gene F]

Thank you Stephen Rawls, Jeff Wetzel, Mike O'Brien, Katie Reynolds and Joseph Matt. It's great to see this commitment.

We need more!

If there is something causing you to hold back? Post it or send me an email. I'm not trying to be a dictator, I just want to see this thing happen!

Gene

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by Jon Lawton

What kind of traffic are we looking at? More to the point, Brandon, how much bandwidth does chiefdelphi.com utilize? I might be able to provide hosting on a nice server (what www.theapesofwrath.org) is on...

ChiefDelphi.com is allowed 20gigs of bandwidth per month included in our hosting plan. For the month of February 2002, we hit about 24 or 25 gigs, and had to pay a little extra $$.

In the off-season, we usually on hit about 10gigs per month, if I remember correctly.

[Nate Smith]

I've worked a few sites through olm.net, and was happy with the uptime and other aspects of it. Also, they include the Miva language (http://www.miva.com) with their hosting packages, which is basically HTML with a few extra tags processed server-side(databases, etc.) I've been able to put together some pretty fancy systems with miva code, so it would be an option as well...I'm also somewhat well versed in ColdFusion, and know a little ASP, so in any event, I'd be willing to help with the web site side of things...

[Joel J]

I can and will step forward to do anything, except writing an actual article.

[Michael Murphy]

I'll work on the editorial staff.

[Donn Griffith]

Great idea Gene. It is so good I wish I'd thought of it. Two thumbs up. There is rarely a week that goes by that we don't have FIRST news to report. It would be great to be in touch with the rest of the FIRST world. What's happenin' out there 24/7. Who said it was a six week project? It's more like maybe six weeks a year without a FIRST project, well maybe for some people.

[Perseus]

i think it would be really cool to see one, but do you really think that there is enough stuff to write about WEEKLY in the "off-season." also, i do not know if people will have the time to cntribute during the building period.

Otherwise, go for it. An idea would be that there could be a different team featured in each new issue

[Joe Matt]

Weekly will only be durring the compotition. Bi-weekly durring building, monthly one or two moths before and after kick-off and Nats and then a bi-monthly if there's time, if not, a break!

[cyanutopia]

I would be happy to help develop and design the website for the netzine---I've designed several websites and am quite qualified, contact me for more info

Timothy Hsu
Webmaster of http://www.cincorobotics.com

[Donn Griffith]

I feel strongly that there is FIRST News worthy of coverage every week throughout the year. As with many of the other FIRST Teams, this is definitely not a six week project. The Team 343 timeline covers 365 days a year. To illustrate my point, I will reference our FIRST Robotics calendar year. As with many other teams our FIRST year begins in August with FIRST LEGO League (FLL). Just an FYI, FLL is an international competition. Team 343 team members work with numberous FLL teams in a variety of ways to numerous to mention at this time. Many of the FIRST Robotics Teams around the country are involved with the hundreds of FLL teams during September, October and November. I would consider this as a News multiplier. Many FIRST Robotics teams are intimately involved during November and December with FLL State Tournaments throughout the country. Another significant News multiplier. The fall months bring FIRST Robotics Kick-off Competitions around the country. More News to report. September, October, November and December - FIRST Robotics teams are gearing up for the upcoming "FIRST Competition" in January. I would bet the ways teams prepare are as varied as the robot designs each year. Seems like another News multiplier to me. January through April... no comment needed. I believe we could publish a FIRST Daily Gazette. So then consider the "Dog Days" of summer..right, June, July and August. First, we find FIRST teams around the country hosting invitational events. So what else happens? Does any other team spend the summer months booking presentations? Each summer, for some unknown reason our team is invited to provide FIRST Robotics presentations at workshops and conferences. Members of our team travel to exotic places like Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Nashville. Actually, we do presentations throughout the year to numerous to mention at this time. The point is, we are just one of 650 FIRST Robotics Teams this year. We have 67 members on our team that want to know what is happening with the other 649 FIRST Robotics teams 365 days a year. Inquiring minds just want to know. Is there really enough FIRST News to report throughout the year?

[Gene F]

I need to get email addresses for all that have agreed to help get this started. Please email me at falendys@oconee.sema.slb.com and I will create a group. I can only sent to individuals through your individual profiles. Also let me know what times ( including time zone ) and dates you would be available for getting together in a chat room. I see there is one associated with this site we should be able to use, I've been monitoring and haven't seen a lot of activity there. I am hoping to get enough response to be able to chat withing the next week. Keep the excitement!

Gene

[Gene F]

Hey everyone stay tuned! I have been in communication with Robby and Colleen. They have been working on the idea for a magazine for some time. We are in the process of getting together and sharing ideas. We will email you soon to let you know the next step. Keep going with the articles and keep the excitement.

Gene

[Joe3]

Great job to you guys trying to set this up. I think that this would benefit FIRST and be just another way of teams communicating. Good luck with it- if it gets put to print, I'm sure that it will have a great subscriber base.